Howard P. Buck McKeon: mckeon. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. mckeon: i thank the gentleman for yielding and my good friend from georgia that just gave a strong message of his support for hate crimes, i respect. and i have a strong feeling against it. but the issue that we're here on the floor talking about should

Howard P. Buck McKeon: be the defense of our nation, especially when we're at a time at war. while the senate was considering the national defense authorization act, division e was attached to the bill as an amendment. the anbaa is the inappropriate vehicle. hate crimes proponents are using

Howard P. Buck McKeon: this important national security bill to get this legislation to the president's desk through the back door. this has no place on the defense bill. it's not germane to the work of the committee, couldn't be added on in the house and had to be done in the senate and introduced as a partisan matter in an otherwise bipartisan bill.

Howard P. Buck McKeon: we need a clean conference report that does honor to the men and women in uniform. there is one thing we on and that is violent crime is deplorable. regardless of its motivation. that is why all violent crimes must be vigorously prosecuted. however, the decision to prosecute should not be based on

Howard P. Buck McKeon: the status of the victim or the thought processes of the perpetrator. violence is violence and should be dealt with accordingly. we have had several meetings of the so-called big four talking about working on the conference report on this committee. chairman skelton and i were in agreement on this issue.

Howard P. Buck McKeon: we felt it should not b added to the conference report, that it was -- if this bill passed in the house, it passed in the senate, i don't know why they can't bring it to the floor as a freestanding bill and have it passed on its own. why we need to attach it to a defense bill is because the

Howard P. Buck McKeon: defense bill has passed and people will vote for it. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. forbes: i give t gentleman an additional 30 seconds. mr. mckeon: is a crime to add it to a bill that is so important that we pass every year for our troops, for those men and women in uniform that we have to muddy